Dear ‘Angry Hillary Ladies’: Welcome to my world
A wonderful friend of mine keeps trying to convince me to go to Denver with him to attend the Democratic National Convention. You see, he is an intimate of some of Hillary Clinton’s most major donors and passionate supporters. He promises that if I go, he’ll bring the “lawn chairs” and we will have front row, or shall I say, ringside seats to one of the largest protests this country has ever seen.
As certain blog sites are hinting, my friend claims to have first hand knowledge that untold numbers of “angry Hillary ladies” are galvanized, organizing and determined to wreak havoc in Denver. He tells me, “This is gonna be just like ’68!” And he was at ’68.
Well, I can’t see going. Mainly because my journalist reflex would surely kick in and I would want to be thisclose to the action. I have no desire to endure weapons that would trigger spontaneous eruptions in my pants, so I’ll probably pass. But, in response to his insistent invitation, I have made one simple request of him, “Please tell them that I say, ‘Welcome, angry-Hillary-ladies. Welcome to my world.’”
Welcome to the position of feeling you are invisible and unappreciated by your designated political party. Welcome to feeling so silenced and dismissed that protest, possibly even aggressive protest, is the last best option you feel you have to push back on imposed invisibility.
I disagree with your cause, and the timing of your protest. I believe the time to fight the DNC was the moment they made the draconian decision to strip Florida and Michigan of delegates. And I believe Barack Obama is the correct nominee. I have found the vitriol in the comment threads on your sites wrenching.
But still, I stand with you in standing up. Maybe, just maybe, you will now begin to understand a little more about why I become an angry-black-lady sometimes, too.
Posted by: Carmen D. in 
Could not have said this any better
June 24th, 2008 at 5:15 am -awesome post.
June 24th, 2008 at 7:39 am -george carlin riffs a little on feminism and it ties in to what you are getting at. and it may just make you laugh a bit.
June 24th, 2008 at 8:06 am -I don’t think there will be any confrontation there but I don’t have any special information either. As to being left out of what the Party thinks or does {absolutely never MY Party, just THE Party}I have had that experience since I was eligible to vote and I am now 55, caucasian and male. Even right now I am really unhappy with BHO, the presumed candidate, because of the FISA vote and his support of some strange Jerusalem unification, as well as his buddies in the ethanol business.
June 24th, 2008 at 8:44 am -As ever, I would vote for the the person who would do the least harm to the Republic and myself, in that order, and whereas several months ago I would have thought that Obama would be far less apt to be a politician, I can only blame myself for my delusions.
I’ll cut this short because all of this is moot. I live in Puerto Rico. We don’t vote in the general.
I guess now everyone knows that. Charming isn’t it?
Even so, given the chance I would vote for Obama {I did in the primary} but already at this early date my expectations have been lowered a great deal.
Being angry about politics, the art of the possible and a better option than Civil War, is where I stand and I guess that will never change.
I like your viewpoint Carmen, thanks.
CeeCee and Nezua, thank you so much!! Nez, that is a great clip. I hope everybody else here checks it out, too.
RC, frankly, I hope Hillary supporters DO protest. There is not enough protest in America I think. To that end, I have always been cautious about Obama. Although unless he totally effs up, he will get my vote in November. I don’t want to have to write in someone else. BUT, he lost me when his response regarding the police acquittals in the Sean Bell case in New York was to urge calm to black folks. This was before ANY mention of ANY action had been made. So insulting! And as far as campaign finance, I would have more respect for him if he simply said look I’ve raised boatloads of money from boatloads of people. I had no idea and now I prefer not to be hampered by public financing limits. His wimpy decision, released on his website, smells to high heaven.
June 24th, 2008 at 9:16 am -Let me make sure I have this right. Are the ladies angry because a woman did not get nominated? Is that the sole basis of their argument? In other words, we should have the opportunity to elect a president solely on the basis of being a white woman? Would these ladies be protesting if a black woman had lost to an African American male or any other male, for that matter? Hmmmmmm, we could be in serious trouble if these ladies were allowed to prevail. I’m with George Carlin in belief that many people are stupid. Angry Hillary Ladies should get a life and protest something that matters,like mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, sons, daughters, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins being maimed physically, emotionally and mentally, or worse, killed, in a war that they have not protested in numbers comparable to their current nonsense. I offer this advice to the Ladies: rather organizing to wreck havoc in Denver, every morning, noon and night, drop down to our knees and ask God to instill in you some common sense.
June 24th, 2008 at 9:40 am -Hey Carolyn. Welcome to the conversation. As I understand it, the women feel the nomination was “stolen” from Hillary and that the DNC ignored that Hillary is “more electable” and anointed Barack Obama. I say, it’s all in the numbers and it is what it is. But just maybe if these women get in the habit of protesting, issues like the war or reproductive freedom will be next. They had better gear up if, as they promise, they vote en masse for John McCain.
June 24th, 2008 at 9:44 am -Carnage?…. I like carnage… jump on the hood of a car
June 24th, 2008 at 10:40 am -and scream, “we will be victorious , or let no man come
home alive!”
Somehow I got stuck on the idea of a weapon that can make me poop my pants…
June 24th, 2008 at 10:45 am -fcg#p, you are so naughty!
Dawncita, yes. I’m kinda stuck on that too. Sadly, I think many (most?) people are more threatened by repeated involuntary pooping than getting shot. I know I am! Crazy, right?
June 24th, 2008 at 12:00 pm -I kinda liked 1968 to tell you the truth, but I would have passed on the assassinations. I agree 100% with the need for some SERIOUS protesting. I’m amazed we don’t have much more of that.
June 24th, 2008 at 1:58 pm -Now I know Nez worked on some demonstrating in NYC just a few years ago {he reminded me about what Bloomberg did to break that up} and maybe there is a clue there as to what happens.
From my very distant perspective, far away from the action, I think the controlling entities have kind of figured out the protest dynamic very well and now know how to deflect it. Of course there are some things that happen like the anarchists at the free trade talks and the Vieques/Navy confrontation and the immigrant demonstrations, so the tradition maybe just needs a little encouragement.
Welcome to your world??? We *been* in your world since time immemorial and were still in it long after you left it.
June 24th, 2008 at 5:59 pm -We didn’t get the right to vote until 1920, decades after african-american men.
We were still considered chattel long after slaves were set free.
Even today, we *still* have problems renting apartments, getting promoted, getting proper recognition and respect.
For some reason, there is a misperception that women somehow haven’t faced the same trials and tribulations as african-americans. This is simply false. As we have just seen, the media shies away from racism but sexism? It’s like, “Hey, ladies, why are you mad? You have no reason to be mad. We were just kidding. God, don’t you bitches have any sense of humor?”
It hasn’t been a bed of roses for us and now we know that the party has no intention of paying any attention to our issues. They don’t give a flying f^&* if the better qualified and stronger candidate was unselected in favor of a guy with no real job experience. The whole exercise of the primary season was a waste of time and energy. The deck was stacked. It wasn’t just that Hillary lost, it’s that 18 million of us were had. It was a DNC con game of national proportions. And we’re going to do something about it.
But as for Obama? Last year when he announced, I thought he might be something special. I thought he was some kind of gifted politician. Now I realize he’s just a ruthless man with average political skills and zero scruples. The minute his campaign started to attack the Clintons of racism, he lost me. That was below the belt and completely unnecessary. I’ll never vote for him now and from what I can see, he has single handedly set back the state of race relations.
With all due respect RiverDaughter, as a black woman, I can say with all surety that NO you have NOT been in my world. I am gobsmacked that you would quote that drivel about black MEN getting the vote before white women. YOu and I both KNOW that blacks were lynched, dismembered and fire bombed when they attempted to exercise that right. And I hope you are paying attention to the WSJ’s Douglas Blackmon’s ‘Slavery by Another Name.’ As he proves, black men and women were sold to brutal labor camps in the “south until World War II. C’mon RiverDaughter, I’ve read your blog. You are smarter than to propose an “oppression olympics” between our constituencies.
Please re-read my post. No one is saying life is a “bed of roses” for anyone. Who even talks like that in the “economic tightening of 2008″?
For the record, I’ve never thought the Clintons were/are racists. Never. My posts are a consistent testament to that. However, I am SURE, the Clinton’s played on the worst aspects of racial prejudice in an attempt to win the nomination for Hillary. That is WORSE as I see it. Also, I have always stated, unequivocally, that Obama is a talented politician. I still believe that although if he keeps putting up Presidential Seal arts and crafts I may have to cast my vote for Cynthia McKinney.
As I said, “I stand with you in your standing up.” A lot of eyes are turned your way. Let’s see what you create.
June 24th, 2008 at 7:12 pm -One more thing, why would Obama have “set back” the state of race relations? I don’t understand.
June 24th, 2008 at 7:15 pm -Hey Carm,
I’m not sure if you noticed it, but Tim Wise wrote a great piece for Hill Spawn’s supporters. If you haven’t already, you should check it out.
June 24th, 2008 at 8:56 pm -[...] What Carmen said. [...]
June 24th, 2008 at 9:38 pm -its in total disarray… I’m telling you folks
June 25th, 2008 at 12:28 am -walk in on the republican party now and it’s
yours! I am dead serious, and I have a privileged
vantage point! do it now! local level and its yours
start with congress… republican party is the france
of the political world right now… you can march right
in and take over without a fight!
fcg#p, if that’s true where will Conservatives go? I believe I will be independent for the rest of my life but I am not sure about that at all. I don’t regret my 8 years in the Republican party, but right now I don’t see any intersection. I had hopes for McCain and Obama, both are disappointing me at the speed of sound.
June 25th, 2008 at 5:58 am -conservatives will be right with you… myopic republican party goose steppers can go where ever the heck they want to just
June 25th, 2008 at 1:39 pm -as long as they aren’t making important decisions that involve
a future that they have no stake in.
I gotta say, haven’t we nominated a couple of real duds this year. Barack “it’s not what I said then, it’s what I say now” Obama and John “I’m not that old; I have a young wife” McCain.
Look for a Hilary primary challenge in 2012 if Obama wins.
June 25th, 2008 at 8:52 pm -There will be no real protest in Denver. Remember these are the same wackadoodles who predicted ten to thirty thousand at the DNC meeting to decide Florida and Michigan, and they got three hundred. There will be a handful of racist Harriet Christians in Denver. Most of the 18 million who voted for Clinton will vote for Obama. They preferred her as the candidate, but if they are Democrats and not Limbaughs operation chaos cross-overs, they will vote Democratic. Just think of this too, if Clinton really had 18 million hard-core voters, why don’t they all send in a couple dollars a piece and pay off her debt? It’s because they aren’t hard-core, just a few internet loons are.
June 28th, 2008 at 12:50 am -